CHE Proximity has announced the opening of its marketing technology consultancy, The Brightsmiths, with the new agency set to service both CHE Proximity clients and its own direct clients in a bid to cut through the AdTech and MarTech acronym clutter.

“The availability of data, the ability to append it to a single customer view and the power of technology to apply an informed customer experience across owned assets, and owned and bought media, is, and will continue to transform our industry”, said CHE Proximity CEO, Chris Howatson.

“Australian brands are leading the world in their uptake of marketing and advertising technologies, but like marketers the world over, brands are not getting the best out of their technical investments. Hundreds of millions in capital expenditure is delivering a fraction of that promised and holding businesses back from realising greater commercial returns.

“That’s why we created The Brightsmiths; to help clients build the business case for, and then exploit, their technology investments.”

CHE Proximity has hired Mark Gretton to lead the consultancy, bringing with him experience in both agency and client environments, locally and internationally, and a strong background in direct marketing.

For Gretton, delivering the right message to the right person, at the right time, with optimal commercial investment, is second nature.

“The tools to deliver individual customer experiences at scale has reached a new level of maturity with Adobe, Oracle, IBM, Google and Salesforce. However, piecing these tools together and getting them to work effectively can be a tricky process,” he said.

“In the frenzy to be part of the change, it’s hard for clients to secure agnostic advice for which tool best suits specific business needs. It’s easy to get lost in the jargon clouding the industry – DMPs, DSPs, AdTech, MarTech, tech stacks – and there’s enormous overlap in definitions and no single solution. Some consultancies actually seem to thrive on using this confusion to position themselves as experts.

“We aim to break down the benefits technology will provide CMOs into simple use cases, aligning the business and clearly stated commercial benefits of investment.

“And once investment is made, we’ll provide support in re-skilling client teams, establishing new operating rhythms, implementing the technologies and determining clear reporting to assess progress against the business case.”

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